El Segundo Seeks Voice in Expansion of L.A.’s Hyperion Sewage Plant

The Hyperion Sewage Treatment Plant is owned and operated by the city of Los Angeles, but El Segundo residents, whose homes overlook the sprawling coastal plant, must live with its environmental consequences.

They get the “noise, vibrations, dust, health effects, odors and visual blight,” said Don Harrison, assistant to the El Segundo city manager.

But as residents of another city, they have no political standing in Los Angeles to register their complaints. Harrison said this void has become more critical now that Hyperion has begun a construction program expected to continue through the mid-1990s, and El Segundo has taken legal steps to do something about it.

The construction work at Hyperion stems from a federal court consent decree that compels the plant to achieve by 1998 full secondary sewage treatment, which involves removal of most solid material and bacteria from waste water pumped into the ocean. To do this, Hyperion must expand and modernize its facilities.

In an effort to have its say in how this is done--and protect the interests of its citizens in the process--El Segundo is bidding to become a party to the decree.

The city has filed a motion with the U.S. District Court to intervene in the decree, which was concluded in 1987 between Los Angeles, the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the state Water Resources Control Board and Regional Water Quality Control Board, Los Angeles Region.

Los Angeles has indicated its opposition to El Segundo’s motion; attorneys for the other agencies said they have not yet taken a formal position.

The decree establishes the goal of secondary treatment, but the court ultimately determines how this goal is achieved.

Robert V. Wadden Jr., El Segundo’s attorney in the case, said that as an intervenor, the city “will have an opportunity to comment and raise issues” as Los Angeles presents various proposals to implement the decree. Now, he said, the city “is not represented in any way.”

John Haggarty, a deputy Los Angeles city attorney, said the city opposes El Segundo’s intervention because of concern its municipal neighbor “may try to enforce certain conditions” that could delay meeting the secondary-treatment deadline. Haggarty argues that El Segundo could achieve its goals by gaining legal status as a “friend of the court” and commenting at court sessions.

Despite the lack of formal positions by other agencies involved in the decree, Wadden said he believes they also will be opposed because of concern over delays.

A hearing on El Segundo’s motion is to be held Sept. 20 before federal Appeals Court Judge Harry Pregerson. Wadden said intervention is “entirely at the discretion” of the judge.

The intervention motion is the latest wrinkle in the troubled relationship between Hyperion and El Segundo, in which noxious odors have been the major irritant. The two already are involved in a lawsuit filed by El Segundo after a chemical release from Hyperion sent one resident to the hospital in March. The suit seeks to force environmental and safety improvements at the plant.

Another conflict arose last year over proposed construction of 130-foot-high sewage treatment tanks, or digesters, at the plant. Contending that the tanks would block views and sea breezes, El Segundo mounted a strong campaign to persuade Los Angeles to locate the tanks away from El Segundo on vacant Los Angeles International Airport property north of Imperial Highway.

But Hyperion construction chief Walter Naydo recently said the digesters will be installed on plant property. He said, however, that they have been shortened by 20 feet in response to El Segundo’s concerns.

Harrison, the El Segundo city official, said the digester issue focused attention on the overall Hyperion project and the impact it will have on the city. “People did not realize the degree or level of construction going on over the next eight to 10 years,” he said.

The digester question also illustrates the contentious relationship between El Segundo and Los Angeles over the treatment plant, despite agreement that the secondary-treatment goals of the consent decree are desirable.

Naydo said locating the digesters on airport property was abandoned after the Department of Airports said it has other uses for the land, including aircraft parking and a larger cargo or passenger terminal area. He also said there would be disadvantages to off-site digesters, including the need to pump sludge to the digesters from the plant.

Harrison, however, criticized Los Angeles for choosing to reserve land for airport expansion rather than relieving a neighboring city of part of the burden of sewage treatment.

“It’s not fair,” Harrison said. “Los Angeles should not subject this impact on residents that have no political representation with them.”

Naydo contended that El Segundo already is listened to in the planning process for the sewage plant. He cited the lowering of the digesters to protect views, a close relationship with the city staff and regular meetings of a citizens committee. He said complaints resulted in a reduction of odors, which should be eliminated with the new construction.

In addition to moving to intervene in the consent decree, El Segundo has taken its complaints about Hyperion to the Southern California Assn. of Governments. In a letter to the agency, Mayor Carl Jacobson complained that Hyperion is being designed for capacities that would serve a population beyond that projected for the year 2010 by SCAG’s growth management plan. Jacobson said these “growth-inducing impacts” are not adequately addressed in environmental planning documents for the Hyperion expansion.

Naydo said the expansion project is being designed for a larger capacity than actually will be built because Hyperion wants the ability to handle sewage flow should it increase beyond 2010 projections. He said, however, that approval would be required before further expansion could occur.

But in El Segundo, Harrison calls this an invitation to “construction for the next 20 years.”